After reading the article that you pointed to, it makes me think that the source of the problem still is fear, but not the fear within China of the US, but rather the fear of China by the people of Taiwan.
Seems that the people of Taiwan want to keep the country independent and the people in china consider Taiwan as one of their provinces, which they want to control, by force if necessary.
If the US is committed to defend Taiwan and China attacks Taiwan, then the war will escalate to include US and its allies and China and its allies.
I wonder how many people will be killed in such a war, especially if nuclear weapons are going to be used.